SCPD clears themselves of any wrongdoing in infiltrating parade planning meetings, justifies behavior, and adopts hastily-assembled one-page policy with no first amendment protections and paves way to spy on any group any time.

If you read the headline of
the Sentinel this morning you already know this, but the SCPD
cleared themselves of any wrongdoing in infiltrating the parade
planning meetings of course. (Police
Investigation Clears Undercover Officers - SC Sentinel)

Given that the investigation
was lead by Deputy Chief Kevin Vogel who made the decision to
infiltrate the planning meetings, this is no surprise. The
600-page
report said that the police had every reason to monitor the group (or
any group in the future) because they had public safety in mind.

If you are thinking this doesn't really truly involve you, or that you
do nothing so sketchy that you'd attract police attention, consider
this: Among the 600 pages of documents in the internal
investigation,
the SCPD gathered intelligence on Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In,
Santa Cruz Art & Revolution, and the Big Yellow House.

Just three example of why we do not need the police spying on our
peaceful group meetings:

At one point during
their infiltration of Last Night meetings, the SCPD gathered
information about the planned peaceful Victoria's Secret protest which
they shared with Capitola Police. On the date of the protest 20
to 30
officers were waiting for protesters at Capitola Mall.

Police gathered
information about Art & Revolution's Anti-Corporate Christmas
Caroling on Pacific Ave. without any evidence that the group had any
intention of breaking any laws. On the date, police monitored the
group's activities.

One person identified
as a "main organizer" of the Last Night parade had little involvement
and attended no meetings. Yet, now this person has a police
dossier on
file at the Santa Cruz Police Department. His police profile and
entire police history appears in the public record as part of the
internal investigation.

How do you feel about
this?
Throughout the fracas I've viewed the whole thing a bit
whimsically.
It seemed the SCPD cleared fucked up in monitoring a peaceful group
with no evidence of criminal intent. But after reading through
the 600
pages of documents, which include photos of many of us, profiles,
information from other groups, videotapes, I am truly creeped out and
angry.

It is not a good feeling to know that when you do something outside of
the box in a town known for its unconventionality, that the police
actively work to repress and contain you.

By the way, the entire document is on file at the main branch of the
Santa Cruz Public Library as well as available for copying at Kinko's
on Laurel.

Two things coming up very soon that you'll have the opportunity to make
your voice heard:

Monday 4pm - City Council's Public Safety Commission Meeting - rally
and protest at 2pm
The SCPD will present the results of it's internal investigation to the
council. Bring questions written down that you'd like the City
Council
to ask the SCPD.

Tuesday 4pm - City Council Police Spying Agenda Item
Mike Rotkin has placed an item on the Council's agenda. This is
your
chance to express your dissatisfaction with anything less than a strong
City Council ordinance prohibiting police monitoring of peaceful groups

The police department will try to ram through the council a
hastily-assembled one-page policy that provides no protection for
people's rights. The proposed policy gives the police the right
to
monitor any group in which the group or any member of
the group plans any illegal activity. This gives the
SCPD the
green light to monitor any type of civil disobedience, as well as
peaceful groups like Guerilla Drive-In, SC Peace Coalition, the 418
Project, Bike Church, or the Last Night Parade if they felt that any
member of the group planned to break any laws. This new policy is
in
the internal investigation report and has the thumbs up of Chief Howard
Skerry and City Manager Dick Wilson.

Here are scans of the first 18 pages of the Internal Investigation report. Predictably, the SCPD concludes that it did nothing wrong and that it has the right to monitor dangerous groups such as the Last Night parade.

These are Deputy Chief Vogel's interviews with Carter Jones, Wesley Hansen, Lt. Escalante, and Wes Modes. This gives a lot of the details of the investigation and infiltration. There is a good bit of CYA, and a large splash of comedy. If you are curious what kind of conclusions cops make when they sneak into your house, read on. 26 pages.

Here are the reports from the actual dates where officers infiltrated the planning meetings. Highlights:

* Cops ride up on stolen/recovered bicycles * Claim responsibility for convincing planners to have parade early in the evening * Gather info about Capitola Mall Victoria's Secret protest * Observe that the event will be a peaceful gathering * Gather info about Art & Rev's Anti-Corporate Xmas Carroling * Detailed police records of all of the "main organizers" including one who was not involved in planning and never attended a meeting